)4.5 Seats Suck Eggs

[phicks]

I can't believe how uncomfortable these seats are. After a good 8 hr day driving, my legs ache from the seat pressing against the back of my legs.

On my 98 I removed the cushions and re-stuffed thanks to a members article in the TDR. It seems the fella's at Dodge cut some corners and shortened up the seat length on the 04. 5. There is no way I'm the only one that is experiencing this problem, so before I sell this thing and go with the F word, I have to ask the questions;

1. Any members find a replacement seat cushion that fits and is comfortable for the long distance drives? Where can I buy it?

2. Any members restuffed the 04. 5 leather seats yet?

3. Any other fix's out there?

You spend a ton of money on these things, go through all the crap that goes with it, ie. launch shudder, 70 mph vibration, white smoke at startup and now the seats.

 

[tschwab]

I think you'll be complaining about a lot more when you buy brand f. I think the seats are as comfortable if not better than my 2G. Add the heated leather and no complaints here.



I would much rather suffer a little seat discomfort than have to drive a psd. Go take a cruise over to dieselstop.com and you will know what I am talking about.

 

[DPhillips]

Not the only one

You are not the only one complaining #@$%! about the seats I have seen others complain about them as well. I drove from Central Texas to Central Illinois at Thanksgiving and my hip has not been the same since. :{ Saw where one reader was installing air ride seats in his truck like the big rigs got. Looked like more than I wanted to tackle on my own. I got a new JC Whitney book the other day and they sell after market seats like my 90 GMC had, I could drive for days in that truck with those seats and be happy at the end of the day.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I will agree with you on the seats. It feels like I am sitting on 2 pieces of wood on either side of my butt cheeks. Right where the side cushions meet with the bottom of the seat. I am not overly huge, 220 lbs, but when I can feel metal on either side of my rump, I think they might have went a little cheap. This is on the 04. 5.

 

[JVolpe]

I agree the seats are not as comfortable as other trucks I have had. If I had to drive all day in this truck for a living I would definitely find replacement seats.



I have a set of seat cushions that help me some, but not enough.



My last chevy truck had the cheap cloth seats and they were more comfortable than the SLT Custom Cloth that I have.



Just my opinion.

 

[Rotty]

I definately noticed these seats were different than my 99. I have to remove my wallet if I am driving any distance, otherwise I will be one sore puppy after 3 hours of driving...

The wallet seems to throw my hip out of alignment???? The seat is a little firmer, but the wife definately likes the new seats.

So go figure...

 

[WStoops]

I have the leather in my Laramie and I think they're OK. I agree about the seat bottoms being short as they should provide support to the back of the knee on average size people or perhaps have an adjustable bolster there. My 03 was an SLT and had the cloth seats which had a longer bottom and were more comfy. The electric heat on the Leather is really nice though, especially when it takes so long for the Cummins to heat up. With respect to the commonly heard paint complaint, both the 03 and the 04 are Patriot Blue and the 04. 5 paint job seems thicker and more durable than the 03. After 6 months the 03 had hundreds of these tiny little scratches with white showing in the bottom. The 04. 5 has none of them after 9 months. May be a moot point though as my Lemon Law hearing is scheduled for the 24th of this month and the 04. 5 may be gone after that????

 

[SHyans]

Any ideas on why they stuffed a bowling ball in my lumbar support area. .

I thought it was me until I read all these...

 

[EEdmondson]

One guy on here had an upholstery shop install more padding in his seat which fixed his problem. The cost was reasonable. It seems that the bigger guys are the ones having the problems. I'm 5-9, 165 and have no problem with my premium cloth seats.

 

[CPG]

The complaints about the lack of comfort for some people in the 0-4 trucks seats are not all together wrong.

It just seems like there is not enough air foam in the seat part. While different weights of people make this a difference, My Wife & I found a great difference of comfort lacking from our old "93" CTD with the Captains seats. These were most comfortable and did not tire us out. We wish we had these back.

The help with our problem was adding a set of OEM seat covers and adding a rubber foam chair cover under the seat cover. The foam was obtained from a material store. This greatly helped.

The other alternate is to have a Upholstery shop redo them. This is the expensive way but probably the easiest for most people.

If you members have been around awhile, in issue thirty five, page 14 of TDR ,there is a great fix for seats by a Denny Day. However, this information is mostly for older broken down seats but might be economical here.

Why on a new truck should one have do this. ? At the expense of these trucks it is not exceptable, but sometimes one can get the job done the way you want. At the same time with shorter people, it has been found to having a very short platform on the rider's floor to lift the backs of their legs off the seats helps relieve the pressure. This is a therapeutic application that one of our friends did for his wife. It worked. Too bad the rider's seat does not have the verticle adjustment like the driver's on these trucks. Hopefully this should be of some help. Not meaning to drag this out.

 

[muddyduck]

I have the same problem with the seat in my 04. 5. I'm 275 and 6' 2 and my butt seems like its sitting on the metal frame. I mentioned this to my dealer the other day when i had it in for the launch shudder problem and he said that he would get the district manager involved if it continued to give me problems. I plan to take it in for the the radio fix and i will try to get the seat problem resolved. I looked into aftermarket seats, but the nice ones are over 1800. 00, and i just don't think we should have to pay that much to get some nice seats installed since we paid so much for the truck.

 

[MikeBeggy]

I got a seat cushion from our local "Relax a Back" store. It's made of tempurpedic type foam that conforms to the user. I sit on it during long trips and it definitely helps. There's also a previous thread where someone found a pilots seat cushion that also helped.

 

[Po' Riggity]

seems to me you shouldnt be complaining. . if you think about it, do you REALLY expect a 3/4 or 1 ton truck to be comfortable to drive in for 8 hours straight? After a while, it IS going to get old.

 

[macdaddy]

I love the 05 leather and I'm at a deficit down there(my seat that is)even after my wife has chewed most of it off :-{} I can still handle a 21 hour drive between Wa st and So Ca

Mac

 

[BrentKaiser]

I have to agree that the seats are very uncomfortable on long rides. We did a 4400 mile run in 108 hours and I think I still have a mark on my right butt cheeck from the seat frame. Are the Leather seats better? I would really think about investing in some if they are.

 

[Rosco]

seems to me you shouldnt be complaining. . if you think about it, do you REALLY expect a 3/4 or 1 ton truck to be comfortable to drive in for 8 hours straight? After a while, it IS going to get old.

Actually, I think more people should complain. I totally understand that the suspension of a 3/4 or 1 ton truck will be rough riding in comparison to a SUV or a 1/2 ton. However, just because a truck that costs anywhere between $35k-$50k is considered heavy duty is no excuse to have poorly designed seats. Do you think that a $150k Peterbuilt should have an uncomfortable seat in it? Remember, that Pete is considered a heavy duty truck. FWIW, My '01 2500 had WAY better seats and that was a heavy duty truck.



I'll be in the market for a new truck in a year or two and I will guarantee you that if the seats are still this lousy I will be buying a Ford or GM. The Cummins is great, but it's not worth a sore back and arse every time I go on an extended trip.



DC, are you listening?

 

[Tim]

Just get some aftermarket seats. From the looks of your sig it seems that stock anything else has never done much for you, why did you expect the stock seats to be the best available?

 

[Rosco]

Just get some aftermarket seats. From the looks of your sig it seems that stock anything else has never done much for you, why did you expect the stock seats to be the best available?

Why is it that me and others disliking the design of the seats strike such a nerve with some of you guys. This thread was started by someone who was less than pleased with his seats and since I'm less than happy myself I replied.



However, people making comments along the lines of "it should be uncomfortable it's a heavy duty truck" or "From the the looks of your sig bla. . bla. . bla. . " are not really constructive.

 

[SHyans]

Why is it that me and others disliking the design of the seats strike such a nerve with some of you guys. This thread was started by someone who was less than pleased with his seats and since I'm less than happy myself I replied.



However, people making comments along the lines of "it should be uncomfortable it's a heavy duty truck" or "From the the looks of your sig bla. . bla. . bla. . " are not really constructive.

It's a slow day at the french fryer today... . they're bored!

 

[rhammon]

I do not really understand all the fuss about the seat in the '04 rigs. I traded in a '97 Dodge 1-ton dually (V-10) which really did ride hard on long trips (Arizona to Missouri. By my new Cummins 600 1-ton dually has a real nice ride! I go about 285 and I love my new leather seats! I find them easy to adjust for comfort, and the ability to change foot pedal height also helps. As for the seat heaters mine works F A S T. I 'm two miles from town and I have to turn it off before I get there, and that in 10 degree weather. Really, I could not be happier!

Rich Hammon Hannibal, MO